Past and Present
by KaliturnedSaviour
Summary: Following two orphaned OCs in the future as they meet Skulduggery and he helps them find out who has been hunting them ever since their parents died. Written before Dark Days but follows the plot. AU, OCs, Slightly OOC.
1. Chapter 1

**So I wrote this a while ago but all things considered it is still up to date I don't own this except for Lily and Ian. Hope you like it! **

The house on Cemetery Road stood tall and menacing, mocking the two children in front of it. In the half year since Ian Bereft and Lily Blithe's father had died, this house was the only solid lead they'd had and they were nervous.

"Do you think it's his?" Lily asked from Ian's elbow.

Lily, at seven years old, was two feet shorter and four years younger than her brother Ian. She was a gifted teleporter and a precocious child.

"I don't know. The air around it feels a bit dead, don't you think?"

Lily shrugged, looking up at her brother for a decision.

"Alright, you know the deal, go somewhere safe and I'll check it out." Ian didn't wait for an answer, they had done this before. He strode to the house knowing his sister was already gone.

Ian got to the door. He looked around noticing that all the shades were drawn, the garage was closed and there was no welcoming mat. The house was impersonal; whoever lived there didn't want company.

Ian tapped his fist on the door. _Knock Knock Knock_. There was no answer. The door was locked. He turned around walked down the steps and shadow darted into the door and smashed the lock. The door swung open.

"Hello?"

He stepped into the house. There was no one in the near bare living room and no kitchen for anyone to be in. He passed one room, surveying it. He passed another: a living room, then another, a room with a small couch in the middle. He passed it. At the end of the hallway he came to a room with a large mirror at one end of the room and a large armchair on the other. Sitting very straight and proper in the chair was a skeleton.

The skeleton was dressed in a suit. It looked expensive, it wasn't wrinkled. Ian barked a laugh. For a split second he actually thought the man had died there sitting in an armchair, staring at his reflection across the room. His instincts kicked in and he saw that the suit was undisturbed there was no human effluvia. This man was dressed after he died.

Ian sighed and looked around. There was nothing he could take and nothing in there he wanted. The search had been fruitless, another lead that became a dead end.

He turned around to leave and was about to call Lily to come back when he felt someone move beside him and a loud click sounded in his ear. The skeleton was standing beside him holding a gun to his head. Ian hadn't even seen it move.

"What do you want?" The skeleton had a smooth voice that came from nowhere. _The skeleton had a voice._

"I'm just…uh...looking for someone."

"I'm not much of a _some_one. I'm more of a _the _one.

Ian tried to get a glimpse of the skeleton but the gun was pointed squarely at his left ear.

"Now I'm not one to shoot people willy-nilly because, quite frankly, bullets cost money. If you leave now, I won't shoot you and later I can go out and buy a new hat. See, it's a win-win."

"I was just looking for someone but I can go. I can just go."

"Who are you looking for?"

"Why do you want to know?" Ian was suspicious by nature, not willing to give up any information he didn't have to.

"Because I make it a point to get to know all the creepy little kids that break into my house." Sarcasm was ample in the skeleton's voice.

"I'm looking for Skulduggery Pleasant."


	2. Chapter 2

The Skeleton lowered the gun a milimetre.

"Really? It just so happens he and I have the same name."

Ian forgot the gun, the search and the circumstances. He whirled to face the skeleton.

"You are?"

"So I'm told."

"I've been looking for you for so long. This is…"

"Amazing? I know, that's how most people feel when they first meet me. "

Ian frowned.

"So why exactly are you looking for me? I know most people consider me the answer to their hopes and dreams, and my good looks never cease to stun but normally people only search for me to try to kill me. "The skeleton shook his head in mock sadness. "It confounds me."

"I need your help. _We _need your help."

"We?"

Skulduggery tilted his head slightly as Lily appeared beside Ian.

"Ah, a teleporter." Skulduggery said blandly.

Ian grimaced at her. "I thought I told you to go somewhere safe."

Lily blinked her eyes, one brown, and one blue at Skulduggery. "It's a skeleton."

"Excuse me, young lady, but I happen to be very intimidating." Skulduggery said as he towered over her.

The girl was unaffected. "Yeah, right."

Skulduggery sighed with nonexistent lungs. "So what is it you brats want help with, anyway?"

"Someone is trying to kill us."

"So let me get this straight," Skulduggery began. He was perched sideways on the arm rest of a chair. "Someone is trying to kill you?"

Ian and Lily nodded.

"How do you know?"

"After our parents died, someone burned down our house. We only just made it out. We stayed in the area but people came searching for us. Sorcerers, they were."

Skulduggery tilted his head at Ian, a movement that slightly disturbed him. Their mother used to do the same thing.

"And judging from that chain on your neck, your necromancy was suitable to fight them off."

For some reason the skeleton's tone became disdainful and Ian found himself ducking his head. "It didn't come to that." He murmured.

"They were working for someone. They were henchmen." Lily piped in.

"You can't be sure of that." Skulduggery stated.

Ian recalled the event. "They were uncoordinated. Didn't know exactly where we were, which means they weren't there when the fire was set. They didn't call our names. They were probably given vague instructions by someone who wants us dead."

"You worked this out by yourselves?"

They looked at each other, sharing sad smiles.

"Our parent trained us well. That's why when our parents told us to find you if anything happened to them we started looking."

"And I'm supposed to help you?"

The kids nodded.

Skulduggery sprang out of his seat, striding quickly to the door.

"Are you going to find who is trying to kill us?" Lily asked, he voice rising hopefully.

Skulduggery hesitated.

"No, actually, I was going to go buy a new hat." He said, walking out the door.


End file.
